Romania 2015 – Digital Shingling

Date: 19-25 July 2015
Location: Bucharest, Romania

Workshop Description
The proposed workshop in Romania will seek to leverage traditional Romanian wood craft with parametric and digital fabrication tools. To this end the students will have the opportunity to explore digital technologies within the context of local tradition and globalization. Students will learn through a series of lectures and by actively engaging in design and making.

Learning Objectives
Students will have the opportunity to apply the following design principles and technologies:

Parametric modeling

Computer Numeric Controlled machining (CNC)

Parametric post-processing

Material behavior and performance

Computer Aided Machining (CAM)

Digital craft and the social context of making

Workshop Project

A workshop project will be given that is framed by a set of design principles. In the Digital Vernacular, these principles are initially established through careful observation and analysis of one or more guiding precedents. One or more principles may be gleaned from a precedent through recognition of the design response to unique place or time, design evolution or attributes of sufficiency, simple logic or clear limits that has led to innovation. Within the context of the workshop students will be challenged to understand these attributes using traditional vernacular shingled architecture in rural Romania. Examples such as the church in Draghia, or other churches in Maramures both exhibit sensitivity to craft and complex geometry while maintaining honesty to place and time.

The selected principle or principles from these precedents then set in motion a particular proposition by each student. Defining a proposition draws the student into the work. It is at this point in the process that the broadest range of possibilities is present. It is also at this point that the student begins to consider modes of fabrication that both reflect and influence the proposition as it takes shape.

Each student, or student teams, will fabricate a final design generated with parametric tools and fabricated on a CNC mill. The project will be created with the precision, speed and the tireless repetitive operation CNC technologies offers but it will be strongly influenced by the guiding precedent and defined proposition.

Workshop Registration and Fee
Romanian Students: $200 (includes all materials expenses necessary for the project). A minimum nonrefundable deposit payment of $50 is due April 1, 2015 with the final balance due on May 31, 2015. Online payments can be completed at the following using the paypal link below. After payment, complete the online registration form at the followinglink and email to jstevens@ltu.edu.

Payment Amount

The fee for LTU or other US students: $500 (Includes optional preceding Albania workshop). A minimum nonrefundable deposit payment of $250 is due April 1, 2015 with the final balance due on May 31, 2015. Payments can be made to Mary Johnson in the College of Architecture and Design, Dean’s Office A129.